Hopper for refrigerating cars



' 1,639,176 1927' H. A. GLENN ET AL HOPPER FOR REFRIGERATING CARS Filed Feb.8. 192s O 9 fl 2 l7 Q f 11 A 16 d o o v :7 o S i L t 12 17a" 17 7 gm 16 Patented Aug. 16, 1927.

UNIT D STATES- PA-TENT. OFFICE.

- This invention re'lates generally, to refri g era-ting or refrigerator cars, but has particular relation to a hopper which is mounted in the top of a car, near one of the ends of the latter and to one side of the runningboard, and used for the insertion of salt and ice, and for other purposes.

Heretofore, and up to the present time, it has been the common or general way, and so far as we are aware, the only method of constructing and applying the hoppers to cars; to do the work of constructing the hoppers and placing the same in position on the car roof or top, and by carrying out the following modusoperandi, towit;

The metal pieces of which the hoppers are constructed, are made on the ground or in the shop, into galvanized parts of the proper dimensions to fit the opening in the car roof when joinedto ether, and are then passed up to the workman on the roof of the car.- This workman. in order to weld or solder the edges of the said galvanized pieces to 'join them together, prepares or exposes-them for solder or the welding op eration. After such preparation has been performed, he proceeds to join said'edgeswhile they are in the openingvof the car roof. These iun'ctures are more or less crude, rough and not galvanized for the reason they cannot be so treated while the i hopper is located in the opening of the car roof, and therefore are directly sub jected to the effect of the salt and the water from the ice and are liable to corrode and be otherwise damaged, thus rendering a short lived hopper.

In order to give durability and long wearing effect to the aforementioned kind of hoppers they must be completely coated with protecting material or galvanized, and in order that this may readily be done and to save labor, time and expense in the construc-' tion and applicationof such hoppers, we have invented certain new and useful improvements in the hoppers and in. the method of their application andsimplified them to a great extent.

We accomplish -this by means of our method of construction and application of the hoppers, which will be more readily understood when read in conjunction with norrna iron nnrmenna'rme cans.

Application filed February a, 1926. Serial No. 86,822.

the accompanying drawing, which illustrates anembodiment of our invention and in which p Fig. 1, is. a top plan view of a portion of the roof of a refrigerating car showing a hopper embodying our invention mounted in a suitable opening therein.

Fig. 2. 'is a transverse sectional view taken on line 2, 2,of Fig. 1, and V Fig. 3, is a longitudinal sectional view taken on line 3, 3, of Fig. 1, looking in the direction indicated by the arrows. Like numerals of reference refer to similar parts throughout the different views of the drawmg. I

, Referring now to the drawing the reference numeral 5, designates a portion of the top or roof of a refrigerating or re'frigerator car which is provided at its longitudinal middle with. a running-board 6 as usual.

Near one end of the car top and at one side of the running-board the top orroof 5, is provided with an opening 7 which opening is preferably rectangular in shape and has a similarly shaped frame 8, fitted and secured therein. This frame is of an open characterv and as shown projects at one of its edges slightly above the top or roof 5, and at its other or lower edge slightly below said roof. Below the frame 8, and extending longitudinally and horizontally with respect to the car bodyis'one of the support-.

ing beams 9 which may be joined at its ends to the ends of the car body in the usual or well known way.- i

KOur. hopper, which is preferably made of sheet metal is designated as a whole by the nunieral 10, and consists of'a pair of end-pieces 11, and apair of side-pieces 1-2, which may be fitted together to form a rectangular open ended hopper as it is clearly shown in the drawing, or in other words so as to-form a hopper with, its to and bottom open. The end-pieces 11, of the hopper are each provided at its lower edge with. an inverted -U-Qshaped cuta-way portion 13, from which is extended inwardly of or between the sides 11, a horizontal flange 14 -to rest on the upper and side surfaces of the beam 9, so as to assist in holding the hopper in position.

It will be observed that the end-pieces 11, as well as the side-pieces 12, oonstitutingthe per and preparing it for application within the frame 8 is all accomplished on the ground or in a shop, which enables us to provide hoppers of such unitary character as to be kept in stock ready for sale or use. That is to say the endand side pieces 11, and 12, respectively are first cut to the proper dimensions, are then soldered'or welded together-at their meetingedges, and the requisite top and lower edgesof the pieces con- 2 stitutingthe hopper are provided with the same.

iflan es 15,-and 17, as well as with the cut-away parts 13, and flanges 14:, around the The thus completed structure is then thoroughly galvanized in all 'ofits parts and is ready to be placed in the frame 8, where it can be firmly held in place by means of ,rivets or fasteners 18 extending through the openings therefor in theflangedT, and into the roof around the perimeter of the opening 7, therein; In this operation it will be understood that the flanges 14', will stride the beam 9, and rest uponthe same, thereby assisting in supportingithe hopper.

By using our. construction and method of applying the hopper, it will be understood that every portion of the latter will be thoroughly galvanized whereas in the old method the solder at the meeting edges of the pieces, or the welded ungalvanized joints will be exposed to the action of salt and the into the desired water from the ice and other material which may be passed throughjhe hopper.

In Fig. 1, ofthe drawings it will be seen. that the end pieces 11, of the hopper, are of somewhat greater length than the side-pieces 12, of the same, and as the pieces 12, are 10- cated in parallelism with the sid'es of the car body they are designatedas above.

While we have shown in the accompany ing drawing, and described in the specification, the hopper as being made of a plurality of pieces joined together, thereby forming a unit, yet, we do not desire to be limited to such construction, as we may form the hopper of a'single sheet or piece of material shape and then galvanize it as a unit.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure'by Letters Patent is:

1. The herein described method of constructing a hopper for refrigerating cars,

which consists in making the hopper of the proper dimensions and then galvanizing the whole as a unit before mounting it in position.

'2. The herein-described method of constructing a hopper for refrigerating cars, which consists in making the pieces of a hopper of the proper dimensions, then joining them together, and finally galvanizing the said parts as a unit.

3. The herein described method of constructing and applying a hopper for rsfrigerating cars, which consists in making the pieces of a hopper of the proper dimensions, then joining them together at their,

edges by Welding and then galvanizing the said parts in their unitary form.

4 HOW'ARD A. GLENN.

'LOY S. DROMGOLD. 

